Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 is targeting a launch date of January 15, 2025 (AEDT). The mission will lift off on a SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center. It will carry NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign.
After the launch, Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander will spend approximately 45 days in transit to the Moon before landing on the lunar surface in early March. The lander will carry ten NASA science investigations to further our understanding of the Moon’s environment and help prepare for future human missions to the lunar surface, as part of the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.
Science investigations on this flight aim to test and demonstrate lunar subsurface drilling technology, regolith sample collection capabilities, global navigation satellite system abilities, radiation tolerant computing, and lunar dust mitigation methods. The data captured could benefit humans on Earth by providing insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces impact Earth.
The launch is scheduled to take place at 5.10 pm (AEDT) on Wednesday and livestream on NASA+.
